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I love his books, but to be frank, I was disappointed that he propagates some BBQ myths in the show. Example, "the smoke ring is a sign that you nailed it." We all know that the smoke ring has nothing to do with tasty BBQ, it's just a chemical reaction that happens under the proper conditions; it's doesn't affect flavor one bit!

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It's funny, but I don't get the SR love at all. Given the geography differences, I obviously came to him pretty late (I think the first time I saw him was when I streamed one of the original Project Smoke episodes early this year), so I'm not sure if there is a familiarity factor I am missing, but he just doesn't seem like a very good cook for someone who is supposed to be professionally trained. I've spent my fair share of time in professional kitchens, and compared with anybody there, his technique looks really amateur, and even clumsy occasionally. Obviously the man can grill, but the grace notes you'd expect from a pro don't seem to be there. OK, I'll turn off the snobbery now, and I'm really pleased that KK is getting more exposure from his show, but... I won't be watching it.

On a far more cheerful note, my KK is less than three weeks away now...

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I've watched Raichlen, Adam Perry Lang, et al and at the end of the day, I'd put cooks showcased here up against anything the big named guys put out.

Take a look at what @tinyfish, @ckreef, @MacKenzie, @wilburpan, etc. post here and you figure out quite quickly there are folks here putting food on the table for their families every single day that can easily hang with the big boys. Even more amazing to me is that our folks here don't have professional staff, professional kitchens, professional food stylists, etc. Our KK Chefs here just do it day in and day out.

Congrats and Kudos to all here for all your largely unrecognized efforts!

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@CeramicChef there's definitely some great food posted here - and as I have said before, that was one of my main reasons for actually buying a KK. If I might be permitted a small disagreement, though, I have seen APL cook many times in a live kitchen, and the man has MOVES. Seriously. There is no comparison between him and SR.

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TY@CeramicChef you are very kind in your remarks. But I do basically agree with your statement. I only visit this forum and one other. There are seriously good looking meals posted on a regular basis. What's great is we take inspiration from each other putting our own twist on it. Looking at the two forums on a daily basis makes me crave a fancy meal every night. Unfortunately my work schedule just doesn't allow that but I still cook on the KK's almost every night.

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THANK YOU @CeramicChef you are too kind. You forgot to add yourself to the list.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Although I’m a little embarrassed to be included since as far as I can tell, I have the least amount of BBQ experience out of everyone here by far. I never did a low and slow BBQ cook until I got Smaug less than two years ago. And although a lot of people disagree with me on this, I have to give a lot of credit to Dennis and his KK grills for allowing me to get results as good as I have gotten right out of the gate.

Just a word in defense of Steven Raichlen: what works well or is best practice in a live cooking or restaurant kitchen setting may not, and often does not work well on video. For example, if you’re chopping an onion in a restaurant kitchen, the priorities are speed and making sure you chop the onions to the proper and consistent size for the next step in making the dish. For video, the priorities are a good looking video segment, and transmitting information to the viewer as to what the steps in making the cuts for chopping an onion are. If you blow through chopping an onion at restaurant kitchen speeds, and filmed that, the average viewer may have no idea what just happened.

I’m not a SR fanboy, either. The Project Smoke episode just released was the first time I’ve seen any of his videos.

I watched the first episode of this season, and plan to continue, more for getting ideas on recipes and flavor combinations as opposed to grilling techniques.

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I love his books, but to be frank, I was disappointed that he propagates some BBQ myths in the show. Example, "the smoke ring is a sign that you nailed it." We all know that the smoke ring has nothing to do with tasty BBQ, it's just a chemical reaction that happens under the proper conditions; it's doesn't affect flavor one bit!

True, but anything that jazzes up the presentation makes for a better eating experience. I took his statement about the smoke ring more in the context of the overall experience, not just taste. And the smoke ring makes for great video, as I mentioned above.

13 hours ago, 5698k said:

He also soaks his wood chips.

Given how small those chips were, I can see the benefit of soaking them. Larger chunks of wood won’t need that treatment, however.

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How much water wood can soak up is dependent on the size of the piece of wood, and the amount of time exposed to water. Small wood chips like the ones in SR’s video will take on a decent amount of water after 30-60 minutes. A chunk of wood the size of your fist or so wouldn’t take on an appreciable amount of water if soaked.

It’s easy to test this. Grab some wood chips, soak half of them for 30-60 minutes, and then throw all of them on a low burning fire, like what you would use for a low and slow cook. The wet ones will take longer to burn. The difference would be smaller on a hot fire for cooking steaks or burgers, but that’s not the type of fire you would add smoking wood to.

I do woodworking as a hobby, and for initial milling of lumber for projects, I have the opposite issue: I’m trying to make sure the wood is dry. The thicker the piece of wood, the longer it will take for it to reach equilibrium. It’s like soaking wood chips, but in reverse.

Now whether you want to use wood chips as opposed to larger pieces of wood for smoking, that’s another issue entirely.

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Haven't seen the episode with the wood chips yet. In the couple I've watched from Season 1 (started at the beginning), he's used nice chunks of wood on lump charcoal. I was impressed with that.

And Wilbur is right, sometimes you have to take poetic license to tell a good story (or make an entertaining video in this case.) Like others have said, I'll be watching more for the recipes than technique.

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I think you need to take these celebrities for what they are worth. SR was doing what we do on the forums in book format well before it was popular. His cooks are inspirational and get your creative ideas flowing. That is how I approach all BBQ these days. I know a lot more than I once did, but have a long way to go, however, with videos like this.... I get ideas and try to incorporate them into my own style and taste profile.

Yeah he looks raw a bit, but we also know way more about BBQ now and he appeals to the average joe BBQ guy. He markets his stuff for the weekend griller that really has no knowledge about Q. But watch the videos and think of his methods as an idea to build on. That pork loin is in my future with a few tweaks to make it more bosco friendly